God of War Ragnarok

[teddymeow]

The Crater was bloody exceptional stuff.

 

I'd happily stump a few Hacksilver for another DLC area similar to that.

[Pob]

I finally finished this last night. Sad to say that I really lost patience with it in the end. It's at least twice as long as it should be and this majorly harmed the overall experience for me. These big Sony games really are just too long, leaving me wanting less rather than more. I reckon The Last of Us 2, Days Gone, Horizon Forbidden West and now Ragnarok would all be better games if the stories were shorter and/or had less overall content. I think Ragnarok is the worst offender yet, which is a shame because GOW2018 has the balance just right - a hefty yet reasonably-sized main campaign backed up with a host of awesome post-game and side content for those who want more. Such a great model.

 

The Crater brought into sharp relief how much better the design and pacing of the rest of the game could be. Every time I was let off the leash to prod at different routes, chose my battles and have some agency as to what to do next, I was loving it. But the balance of that vs the tightly-funelled, repetitious slog of puzzle-fight-boss-chat just wore me down after about the halfway mark. Having to spend so much time as Atreus, with his less-fun combat, compounded the issue.

 

A game has very high highs. I still think the melee combat is my favourite of all games, so I'll certainly be back to do the endgame stuff - and probably have an amazing time doing it - but there's no way I could ever play the whole thing again, which is certainly not something I'd say about GOW'18.

[Floshenbarnical]

I only noticed last night that as you hit enemies you build up a status effect bar, and when its full you can L1 + Triangle to activate Inferno or whatever and do like 100x more damage. I completed the whole last game and half of this one without noticing, and suddenly the combat is trivial. Does it do extra damage if you apply burn and then frost?

[Floshenbarnical]

After 3 nights of wringing every drip of content out of The Crater, which I was expecting to be somewhere else, I’ve moved onto the Musphelheim trials. I really struggled with them the other week and didn’t complete any, and then tonight I nailed them all first time. However, I now have to redo them I certain combinations and do 6 mega battles to finish? Give me strength

[SpagMasterSwift]

On 02/12/2022 at 16:52, Kayin Amoh said:

 

ironwood was absolute bloat in its purest form. I’d say you could easily hack massive bits off both this and it’s prequel and make a much better and leaner single game without the filler.

 

I've just been doing that bit and I'm a little worried that this is the point that people say the game stops being like the last one and goes up a gear?

[Pob]

On 20/01/2023 at 18:06, Floshenbarnical said:

I only noticed last night that as you hit enemies you build up a status effect bar, and when its full you can L1 + Triangle to activate Inferno or whatever and do like 100x more damage. I completed the whole last game and half of this one without noticing, and suddenly the combat is trivial. Does it do extra damage if you apply burn and then frost?

 

I don't think that particular ability was in the last game. You could build up permafrost or immolation on your weapons, but not then pop an ability (L1 + Triangle) to get even more benefits.

 

Enemies who have the frost or burn status applied will take lots more damage if you switch to the opposite weapon and do regular melee attacks (as long as you have these skills unlocked). I don't think you get anything for applying the burn status to an enemy who already has the frost status applied. It would be satisfying if there was some huge explosion if you managed to apply both statuses at the same time, wouldn't it?

 

The confusing thing is that both enemies and your weapons can build up status. The axe builds up permafrost on itself as you score hits without taking damage and applies frost status to enemies from certain moves and then from every move when the axe's permafrost gauge is filled. The blades build up immolation on themselves and apply the burn status from certain moves and then from every move when the blades' immolation gauge is filled. The permaforst/immolation gauge is shared across weapons.

 

Most confusingly, in the menus the weapons are listing as dealing a damage type of 'ice' and 'fire' respectively. They really should've written 'frost' and 'burn' there.

[joffocakes]

On 20/01/2023 at 18:06, Floshenbarnical said:

I only noticed last night that as you hit enemies you build up a status effect bar, and when its full you can L1 + Triangle to activate Inferno or whatever and do like 100x more damage. I completed the whole last game and half of this one without noticing, and suddenly the combat is trivial. Does it do extra damage if you apply burn and then frost?

 

I platinum'd this game and didn't know about it either. I did see an L1 + 🔼 prompt above the health bar once but had no idea what it was for.

[Majora]

Finally managed to finish this last night so I could sell it on. By finished I just mean seeing the end credits, I've had my fill of the game and don't feel the need to do any post-credits content at this point.

 

I don't think I'd be down for a third game unless they use The Crater as the template. The 'twisty-turny narrow corridors with hundreds of pointless chests dotted along them while you occasionally throw axes at bells to unlock a chest' formula has been bled dry as far as I'm concerned. The Crater is absolutely the direction they should be going with for the next game and I'll be very disappointed if they don't.

 

Despite the formula being pounded into the ground across both games, there's a great game lurking somewhere within this bloated, sprawling epic. As Pob references above, this has the same kind of self-indulgent, overlong feel as some of Sony's other tentpole releases over the past few years where it can feel like every idea, concept and flight of fancy is included because no-one is saying no. 

 

There's more of everything than the last game and on the whole I did prefer it. If only because I found the enemy variety in the first game, and especially the boss variety, quite terrible. This was a significant step up in that regard. But there are so many pace-deflating sections that I found it hard to stay engaged with the main narrative all the way through and the writers seemed to think some of the narrative beats were more significant or important to the player than they really were. 

 

Spoiler

When one character sacrifices themselves during a particularly overblown and melodramatic sequence, I found myself thinking

 

 

 

 

The combat system is excellent and it's slick, polished and generous almost to a fault. But an overhaul to the level design, puzzle design and the manner in which the narrative is delivered so it isn't so overly reliant on forced slow walking would be much appreciated.

[footle]

@Majora

Spoiler

Worse, they then undercut the sacrifice of the no-mark about an hour later and you shrug your shoulders and continue.

 

Rhianna Pratchett did a good thread about the differing forces at work in both narrative and gameplay teams - but since the thing we’re talking about is an extended cutscene and a forced narrative encounter a bit later I don’t think that argument works here.

 

perhaps there was more build up that was cut?!
 

 

[Pob]

I was quite pleased with how this post-campaign fight went. One of those boss battles where you start off getting instantly merked but over the course of an hour gradually master it (hardest difficulty, obvs):

 

Spoiler

 

 

 

[Floshenbarnical]

I wish Freyr's armor made of dog barks was available in-game

[Captain Novaforce]

Well as 45 hours in a guess I did like this! Agreed the main campaign had pacing issues, really enjoying going back and tidying stuff up around the crater and Bezerker fights. 

 

Really wonder where they will take the story next 

[dug]

Got this the other day and am enjoying playing it instead of working on my dissertation lol.

 

About ten hours in, in Alfheim, and it just seems like more of God of War to me, if a tad more linear maybe? Although maybe I'm misremembering how open GoW(2018) was.

 

The combat is the right side of challenging for me. I've died a few times, but haven't felt frustrated. Yet. 

 

I wish there was an accessibility option for turning off puzzle hints from the NPC's. It's a bit annoying when I haven't finished scoping out the area for chests yet, and Boy starts going "what's that up there? Maybe you can turn it." Yes, I know, fuck off.

 

Overall though, I'm having fun.

[Floshenbarnical]

Spoiler

Mission accomplished. Completed the game having done everything except the post-game stuff and the one Berserker that is locked until after the finale.

 

Can not believe Tyr was Odin this entire time, fucking cunt. Found the real Tyr immediately after the finale though which was a nice surprise. Then i continued seeing him everywhere I went. 

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

I’ve pretty much just been doing the main quest line, but decided to follow a pig and now I’m in some crazy area that is like the best bit of the game! Loving it!

[Floshenbarnical]

Spoiler

Fucking Gna can go fucking fuck herself. I just got her down to her last wee bar of health and then she instantly killed me with full health. Took all my rage and resurrection stone to get that far. Livid

 

I’ll get it tomorrow

 

[SpagMasterSwift]

Im so glad I don’t suffer from OCD cos I have loads of half started things at this point that I know I’ll never complete. But then there are at least 3 unfinished things that are lurking at the back of my mind that I’ll probably go back and try to solve…maybe I do have OCD…

[Pob]

5 hours ago, Floshenbarnical said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Fucking Gna can go fucking fuck herself. I just got her down to her last wee bar of health and then she instantly killed me with full health. Took all my rage and resurrection stone to get that far. Livid

 

I’ll get it tomorrow

 

Did you beat

Spoiler

King Hrolf? I've been on him for a few hours now. I can counter every single one of his attacks via muscle memory but his health bar is just so massive, I can't go the distance without making mistakes. I've got him down to 25% once, at which point he gains the ability to start radiating bifrost. I'm dreading to think what Gna must like.

 

[Floshenbarnical]

3 hours ago, Pob said:

Did you beat

  Hide contents

King Hrolf? I've been on him for a few hours now. I can counter every single one of his attacks via muscle memory but his health bar is just so massive, I can't go the distance without making mistakes. I've got him down to 25% once, at which point he gains the ability to start radiating bifrost. I'm dreading to think what Gna must like.

 

 

Spoiler

Didnt see him yet. It’s the bifrost that does you in. Get enough on you and a stiff breeze will 1HK you.

 

I used a poison melee build for all the berserkers tbh. I’m currently using a realm shift build that does way more damage during realm shifts, and it’s been pretty successful but with Gna she has one particular attack that is impossible to time and if you fuck it up you get staggered and locked into about 5 consecutive undodgable attacks. “For Asgard!” You have to dodge on the middle of Asgard and I always panik and dodge too early 

 

[Number 28]

10 hours ago, Pob said:

Did you beat

  Reveal hidden contents

King Hrolf? I've been on him for a few hours now. I can counter every single one of his attacks via muscle memory but his health bar is just so massive, I can't go the distance without making mistakes. I've got him down to 25% once, at which point he gains the ability to start radiating bifrost. I'm dreading to think what Gna must like.

 

I switched to the easiest difficulty and still couldn't beat him, at which point I just started to feel quite depressed and gave up.

 

I read online somewhere that

Spoiler

you should only use runic attacks? So I guess you're supposed to spec Kratos for strong runics with short cooldowns, but ugh, I've just been throwing everything at strength.

I also only just realised that...(relic related spoiler)

Spoiler

you can bring those troll statues to life and fight them using that one relic, which I can't even remember how I got. I did already use it to beat the dragon on the aptly named 'Dragon Beach' and it went down easy (level 9 Kratos), so hopefully it's fine, but again, ugh.

[joffocakes]

I had a weird issue with that optional, runic-related boss:

 

Spoiler

The Everlasting, the dragon statue on the beach wouldn't die whenever I got its health to zero and the R3 prompt for the cinematic finisher but it glitched out so Kratos dug the blades of chaos into nothing at the end and the dragon survived, remaining stunned. I attempted the QTE about six times as well as deliberately failing it but they'd never die. I thought it was some meta pun on its name but it turned out it was just fucked.

 

I reloaded an older save and came back to beat it without issue.

 

[NecroMorrius]

You know that thing with the characters spoiling every puzzle and dropping hints way too early? That thing that doesn’t happen much or even exist according to various people here?

 

Well, according to the game director and the story lead:
 

Director:
 

“Contractors started leaving and we didn’t get it tuned well enough”.

 

”The timing for the first hint was too aggressive and should have had a MUCH longer countdown timer”

 

“It’s not going to happen again”

 

“I would love to patch it but I don’t know how difficult it would be”

 

“If people are struggling the cheapest thing to do is write a bit of banter to throw on there”

 

“We were coming in screaming hot… we were like damn it, we missed something”

 

Writer:
 

“I didn’t play it until it shipped, and I thought shit, they’re giving hints way too often”. 

 

Anyway, back to @Kevvy Metal to explain how they’re wrong!

[Sarlaccfood]

It definitely settles down as others have noted in podcasts etc too. 

[Floshenbarnical]

On 04/02/2023 at 15:21, Number 28 said:

I switched to the easiest difficulty and still couldn't beat him, at which point I just started to feel quite depressed and gave up.

 

I read online somewhere that

  Hide contents

you should only use runic attacks? So I guess you're supposed to spec Kratos for strong runics with short cooldowns, but ugh, I've just been throwing everything at strength.

I also only just realised that...(relic related spoiler)

  Hide contents

you can bring those troll statues to life and fight them using that one relic, which I can't even remember how I got. I did already use it to beat the dragon on the aptly named 'Dragon Beach' and it went down easy (level 9 Kratos), so hopefully it's fine, but again, ugh.

i just killed him with the realm shift build

[Flanders]

The Crater has massively turned me around on this game. I was really souring it as the main story went on, and I think that’s such a mess that it wasn’t an issue to just drop out of it and go exploring the Crater for hours. 
 

The design there is exceptional in so many ways. Because the enemies are so high level and varied you start to properly engage with all the game’s systems and it suddenly doesn’t seem so unwieldy. The storytelling is really

nifty in that section as well, it all becomes a lot more organic compared to the exposition-laden main quest. 

It’s like a FromSoft game done with Sony blockbuster sensibilities and it’s so, so weird how it’s part of Ragnarok as up to a quarter of the game. Is it DLC that they decided to add to the main game last minute? A proof of concept for a future direction for the series? Or the product of warring visions for this game that ended in a truce where both versions were included? 
 

I wonder also if a full game that used the Crater as a design template for something on an even larger open scale might have been beyond the technical capabilities of the PS4. 

 

[sir podger]

After a couple of hours with King Hrolf where getting him down to 40% health seemed to be my limit, in the last fight with him, everything fell into place and he was down to half a bar before i needed to use the resurrection stone. i miss him. It was this fight that made me realise i will never be one of those gamers who absolutely excel. i watched this youtube video where someone decimated him in 30 seconds using the buffs and different effects from various combinations. I tried using that exact build and lost ages of my life attempting to recreate those attacks and just failed miserably. so went back to my standard grind and eventually got him. I'm happy with a difficult fight and victory as opposed to a total freakish decimiation.

 

i just have Gna left now.

 

I can get her down to halfway by spamming runics at the beginning. The biggest problem i have is she fucks off out of camera view and i'm left floundering trying to find her, by which point she has stuck a load of bifrost on me

[Pob]

I gave up on Gna. Hrolf is a brutal grind but I always felt I could do it, if I could just run the gauntlet for long enough. Gna is so fast with so many deadly attacks that I just wasn't having any fun at all.

[dug]

I didn't even get to hrolf. I still have the berserker fight with two of them at the same time and the one with one strong boi and two magic women to do. 

 

I've been using probably the stupidest possible build, that is only equipping stuff that increases strength. By the end my strength stat was 520 or something, but none of the other stats were particularly high. And I haven't really been engaging with the game's various systems. For example, I didn't know until the post game about the bar which builds up when you attack, which when full you can L1 + triangle to go into super powered up mode.

 

And I don't really know what the cooldown stat does. The higher it is, the less time you have to wait between runic attacks?

 

To do those fights I've been stuck on, I could either learn all the systems properly and try out different builds, or keep banging my head against the pure strength wall. Can't really be arsed with either.

[Djx]

On 06/03/2023 at 10:27, Flanders said:

It’s like a FromSoft game done with Sony blockbuster sensibilities and it’s so, so weird how it’s part of Ragnarok as up to a quarter of the game. Is it DLC that they decided to add to the main game last minute? A proof of concept for a future direction for the series? Or the product of warring visions for this game that ended in a truce where both versions were included?

https://www.inverse.com/gaming/god-of-war-ragnarok-cory-barlog-trilogy-norse-saga

 

Sony Santa Monica threw everything they had into this game and it shows. With no follow up to hold ideas back for, they put them all into this one - 

Quote

Barlog pointed out that God of War and God of War Ragnarok each took around five years to develop. If Sony Santa Monica were to continue this trend, that would mean that Sony Santa Monica would spend over a decade and a half on the same overarching narrative.

“If you think of a third one in that same [time], we’re talking of a span close to fifteen years of a single story, and I feel like that’s just too stretched out,” he says.

 

[HarryBizzle]

Next up they’ll be spending 8 years to make a looter shooter based around Freyr’s gang.